Got the letter in Ohio Saturday. We’d heard from the principal and GC on Monday of last week. Sorry to be so slow posting - I’ve been a little busy.
Received a letter Friday in OK. I am surprised that the school never mentioned anything to my D; I can’t believe we would learn about her finalist status before her high school. OU has been the most impressive place we’ve been to as far as recruitment. Nevertheless, Ole Miss wins out because of their Chinese Flagship program.
@albert69. I have been on the Parents thread for a few years now, but I am very behind w/it! Need to get caught up w/those folks (some of whom are here) and I will keep posting here, too. If you go over there, just tell them that I suggested you join the thread as our Official Student Ambassador & I’m sure the parents will all welcome you w/open arms! It’s nice to have a student or 2 on any parent thread. As a parent, I like to hear from other young people about what their experiences are. Gives me a useful perspective. Also, it’s nice to encounter a student who does not answer questions w/ Yeah, No, Dunno, or similar responses. My DS has those responses down pat! 
IT CAME!!!
My son is a finalist!!!
Thanks @PAMom21 for the support!
Letter finally showed up. Still no peep from the principal, tho.
National merit finalist notification letter received today dated Feb 9. Nothing from school yet. Northeast Ohio.
Nothing from the school here, either, but we have the letter mailed to our home. The school did invite my son for donuts sometime next month, but all NM kids were invited, whether commended, NA, NH, NMSF or NMF, so that lovely invitation wouldn’t help much if we were still waiting on a letter.
Letter received in St. Louis., by golly! So want to open it - have to wait until S gets home. . .
Letter arrived here in NY today, made it to finalist status! Yay!
Letter began ‘Dear Finalist!’ YAY! Good Luck Everybody!!!
Just want to encourage all of you still waiting to hang in there. The weather along with usual speed and dependability of USPS are probably to blame. We got letter at home on Friday (in Texas and at beginning of alphabet). On Thursday, I had emailed counselor to see if school had heard anything and she emailed back on Monday afternoon that she found out Friday. So school didn’t know much, if any, before we did despite their info being mailed earlier. All 12 semifinalists in our town made finalist. School district has put on their website but son’s school hasn’t given him certificate yet.
Again, Congratulations to all of you who have gotten the good news!
@GoAskDad…We were also thoroughly impressed with OU during our visit there last Spring. The support that they give to NM students is simply outstanding. They and Bama are far and away the best in that category. The distance was the biggest detractor for us coming from MI, and I never could quite wrap my head around their fee system (same with Ok State). Best we could figure…out of pocket over the 4 years there would be in the low-ish $20K realm which is still outstanding but a little higher than some of the other big NMF packages. Our “dream” school for D2 would’ve been a hybrid between the feel of UKy, the support of OU/Bama, and the $$ package of UCF…but in the grand scheme of things we all love that D2 will be a Wildcat come this fall!! <:-P
@wolverine86 what do you think the UKy cost will be for NMF student?
Finally! Got the letter just now when we came home from D2’s soccer game. D1 didn’t know that notification had gone out last month about not making it, so she didn’t know what to expect when she opened it. Loved reading the words “Dear Finalist”! Congrats to all, and hang in there for those still waiting. We can’t be the last ones to receive it.
Here in Ice Town (aka Memphis, TN) where all activity has to be halted for one night of sleet, still nothing from the school. Thankfully the USPS does deliver and my S got his home letter. Woo hoo! He is torn between two nice NMF scholarship schools but also still waiting to hear from one school where it won’t be worth anything (and as such, my last choice) but he wants to wait so we wait! Good luck to all! We visited and loved both OU and TAMU. Bama is great too but my son wasn’t interested given they do not offer his preferred major.
S got his letter in Georgia today.
I interrupted a meeting I was in to announce my DS was a NMF when I got his text - a picture of the letter! Fortunately, I’m a teacher so all those in my meeting were thrilled and understanding of the interruption.
Donuts. Underwhelmed.
@CoMoMom…It depends on where the student will be living and which meal plan they choose. For us, we plan on paying for books and travel whichever school they’d choose, so I’m just looking at “billable costs” (tuition, fees, room and board) when I compare after-scholarship expenses.
For UKy, the Patterson covers IS or OOS tuition, room expenses up to the Honors Level (Central I, Central II, or Haggin), the 7 meal per week dining plan, $1000/yr stipend, and $500/yr “official” NM scholarship (plus the iPad of course). D2 was accepted into Honors and will be living in the Honors LLP, so her room costs will be fully covered. The cost difference currently between the 7 meal per week and the 14 meal per week plan (which we signed her up for) is about $500/semester, so the Patterson should cover her “billable costs” with a $500 “buffer” to help cover any additional fees (labs, etc.)…theoretically. [-O<
If the student lives in a higher priced res hall (Champions Court, Woodland Glen, etc.) there would obviously be a higher residual cost that the Patterson might not cover. If they choose to move off campus in later years they can usually find apartments that come in under the cost of a res hall and they would have the cost of the 7 meal per week plan (currently $2650 per year) that they could budget for groceries and sundries. Pretty darn sure even I could eat well on that kind of budget!! Just looking at billable costs again, they should be able to make money in later years if they choose to move off-campus.
The Patterson is supposed to increase with any tuition increases over their 4 years, so that shouldn’t be an issue.
These are just my rough numbers, so if I’m missing something obvious please let me know.
ETA: Forgot the $2000 one-time for Summer Education Abroad. $-)
@GoAskDad Thanks for posting your impressions of Oklahoma. My D13 and I had a similar experience 2 years ago but now DS, DH, and I are waiting ANOTHER 6 WEEKS (UGH!) before we can reschedule a visit on DS’ spring break. Glad that you and others I know were there managed to safely navigate the ice storm (although, as a native midwesterner, I know that you have a lot more experience in that area than, say, my DH who grew up here in New Mexico).